By Jim Meachen
MotorwayAmerica Editor

(November 2009) It's a bit disconcerting that just as Ford announces it is profitable once again — showing us that private automotive enterprise can succeed under good management — that the unions are threatening to derail this new-found momentum. These are the same unions that played a role in leading General Motors down the path to government ownership.

While we haven't delved deeply into the unions' perceived problems with new Ford contracts, we can't understand why the rank and file fails to see that its actions could ultimately kill off another goose that is once again laying golden eggs?

Seems like the Canadian unions, which approved Ford's contracts, have a clearer understanding of what is ultimately at stake. They see the bigger, long-range picture.

Ford argued that it needed parity with the concessions given to General Motors and Chrysler so those two companies could secure federal bailout money before filing for bankruptcy protection.

"Ford is disappointed that the additional changes were not ratified," said Joe Hinrichs, Ford's group vice president of global manufacturing and labor affairs. "Additional modifications we sought recently were designed to honor pattern bargaining and provide Ford with similar additional efficiencies as those ratified this year for our domestic competitors."

Those concessions would have implemented wage freezes on new hires, barred the union from striking until 2015 and changed work rules to allow Ford more flexibility in how it used its work force.
Ford did not ask for additional concessions on retiree health care, and agreed to make a $1.9 billion payment into a UAW-administered voluntary employees' beneficiary association. In contrast, GM negotiated a payment of just $585 million.

So what union members are evidently saying is that a healthy Ford should be forced to "pay up" and should not be allowed to play by the same rules as the government-controlled companies.

We hope the differences between Ford and union leaders — who reportedly signed off on the contracts — and the rank and file can be resolved without leading to future strikes or putting Ford at a competitive disadvantage.

But it looks to us like business as usual for the unions. And the days of business as usual have long passed.